The Retan Rifles - Fork Union Military Academy

Happy 50th Anniversary to
The Retan Rifles
The drill team of Fork Union Military Academy was first established
in 1956 and became known as The Hatcher Rifles. In 1961,
the unit was renamed The Retan Rifles, to honor the memory
of George Owen Retan, a former cadet who was killed in action during
World War II.
As we mark this 50th Anniversary of The Retan Rifles, it seems appropriate
to tell the story of the young man in whose memory they are named.
We invite you to read “Remembering Retan” on the following pages.
Alumni members of the Retan Rifles have created a page on Facebook
to share memories, post photos, and promote the Retan Rifles as an elite
unit of Fork Union Military Academy. Just go to:
http://www.facebook.com/RetanRifles
One of our favorite recent photographs of the
Retan Rifles on parade, taken in May, 2005.
www.forkunion.com 45

The Hatcher Rifles, seen here in
1957, were formed in the mid-1950s
and were the forerunners of the
Retan Rifles.
It is fair to say that the Retan Rifle
units of the mid-1980s were legendary
for their precision and skill. The
unit is seen here in about 1982,
marching in a community parade.
The Retan Rifles have regularly
appeared at the Dogwood Festival
and Apple Blossom Parades, often
taking home awards.
The drill team was
renamed the Retan
Rifles in 1961, and
can be seen here
performing on the
Academy’s parade
grounds in that year.
Led by Constantine Wilson in 1982, the
Retan Rifles traveled to Massanutten for
a competition against rival teams on the
east coast and won every single trophy
to be awarded that day.
Wilson continues to be involved in drill
teams as founder of the New Guard
America, performing exhibitions, competing,
and training drill teams. Check
him out at newguardusa.com
The Retan Rifles would travel to Orlando
in 1984 to compete in Nationals, where
they placed third in the nation.
Through the years the
Retan Rifles became
known for putting on
elaborate and deathdefying
performances
spinning and throwing
heavy military rifles
with sharp bayonets
affixed, as in this
photo from 2005.
Even the Silent Drill Team
of the U. S. Marine Corps
showed the Retan Rifles
a high level of respect,
seen here stopping by their
quarters to ask Cadet R. C.
Schrom to teach them some
of his tricks.
46 Call to Quarters www.forkunion.com 47

Remembering
Retan
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces
but also by the men it remembers, the men it honors.”
The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped into
Holland on September 17, 1944 as part of the largest
airborne invasion ever made to that time.
by Dan Thompson
John F. Kennedy
He stood erect and strong, his posture
and sure step belying his age of almost
eighty-nine years.
“Can we stop here a moment” he’d asked. “I’d
like to see that up close.” He remained for a long
quiet minute or two, just reading the words of
the plaque, taking it all in.
IN HONORED MEMORY OF
LT. GEORGE OWEN RETAN
GRADUATED FORK UNION MILITARY ACADEMY
JUNE 2, 1941
KILLED IN ACTION HOLLAND
SEPTEMBER 17, 1944
Colonel Ed Shames walked slowly back to the
golf cart and sat down heavily. Not a word was
spoken as we rolled away to our next stop. For
the first time during his visit on May 20, 2011,
the open and engaging Colonel Shames seemed
at a loss for words.
“That really makes you think, “ Shames said finally.
“Why him Why not me Why did I make
it through and not George”
It’s a Boy
On February 1, 1923, a son was born to Dr.
George Matthew Retan and his wife Emilie.
After fathering two daughters, Geraldine
and Lucille, there’s no doubt that Dr. Retan
was proud to have a son, but he was not to be
named George Matthew Retan, Jr. It seems
that Dr. Retan, an avid outdoorsman but very
poor swimmer, had been on a fishing trip in the
Adirondacks when he somehow managed to
fall out of his canoe and found himself in deep
trouble. His friend and fishing companion, a
man named Owen, saved Dr. Retan’s life that
day. And so it was decided that Dr. Retan’s son
would carry the name George Owen Retan.
Dr. Retan served as a professor of pediatrics at
Syracuse University, and he maintained a private
practice out of the family’s home on James
Street in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Retan was
something of a pioneer and researcher in medicine
and his name remains a footnote in today’s
medical journals. He owned one of the first x-ray
48 Call to Quarters www.forkunion.com 49

George Owen Retan
entered FUMA in 1937
as a freshman.
Retan graduated as a
senior in 1941.
machines in private practice in New York. His
early research on the treatment of a dangerous
type of childhood intestinal blockage (known
as intussusception) using a barium enema while
observing the process by x-ray fluoroscopy was
published and helped popularize this form of
treatment. He also researched innovative treatments
for childhood polio, and a chapter is
dedicated to his efforts in a 1939 book entitled
“Modern Miracle Men.” His controversial treatment
methods became outdated, however, once
the polio vaccine was developed.
Cadet Retan
George Owen Retan seemed to have inherited
his father’s intelligence, and he began to distinguish
himself as a student when he enrolled as a
freshman at Fork Union Military
Academy in September of 1937
and was assigned to C Company.
His freshman year he earned a report
card filled with mostly A’s and
only the occasional grade of B.
The society pages of the Syracuse
newspapers often carried news
of Dr. George Retan, the wellknown
physician, and his family.
Dr. Retan and his wife earned
frequent mentions in the local
press for their participation in various cultural
and charitable activities in Syracuse, so when
young George Owen Retan made the honor
roll at Fork Union Military Academy, that news
was prominently reported in the hometown
newspaper.
Cadet Retan earned officer’s rank during his four
years of high school at the Academy and served
as part of the editorial staff for the “Skirmisher”
(the Academy’s yearbook) and as an officer in
the Athenian
Literary Society.
His senior photograph
shows a
clear-eyed young
man in an officer’s
coatee with two
stars at his collar.
These stars
were worn on the
uniform at that
time as “academic stars” indicating outstanding
performance in the classroom, and the officer’s
rank was worn on the sleeve. Retan’s academic
achievement earned him admission to one of the
nation’s top Ivy League institutions. He enrolled
in the prestigious Cornell University following
his graduation from Fork Union Military
Academy on June 2, 1941.
Winds of War
As George Owen Retan embarked on his college
career as a freshman at Cornell, the United
States was facing the likelihood of greater
involvement in the war that had been building
on the European continent and stretching
into Africa and Asia. Hitler in Germany and
Hirohito in Japan were spreading turmoil across
much of the world and the Americans would not
be able to stand on the sidelines much longer.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched
a surprise raid on Pearl Harbor, sinking many
ships of the U. S. Navy and guaranteeing the
Americans’ entry into World War II. The very
next day, George Retan left the campus of
Cornell University to visit his father in the office
of his medical practice. He declared to his
father his intention to leave college and join the
military.
Retan finished out his freshman year, even joining
the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, but he made
good on his plans to join the war effort in the
summer of 1942.
You’re In the Army Now
On August 25, 1942, George Owen Retan
enlisted in the United States Army. When he
asked the recruiter where they needed men the
most, he was told they needed paratroopers, so
that’s where Retan volunteered to serve.
The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was to
be a new “super unit” of elite fighters, kind of a
precursor to today’s Delta Force or Seal Team
Six. The 506th PIR recruited only men of better
than average intelligence and physical condition,
and sent them to Camp Toccoa in a remote part
of Georgia to undergo the most rigorous training
schedule any military unit to that time had
been required to complete.
Ed Shames recalls that he and Retan must
have arrived at Camp Toccoa on the same train,
as they ultimately were assigned together to
Company I in the Third Battalion of the 506th.
Shames describes the training they went through
as “almost inhumane” as the men were winnowed
from almost 7,000 recruits down to about 2,500
tough, hardened fighting men. Anyone who
stopped running on the regular morning runs
3-1/2 miles up (and 3-1/2 miles down) Currahee
Mountain was removed from the unit. Anyone
who was unable to qualify at the “expert” level
with their rifle, machine gun, or mortar was
eliminated. When the regiment was sent to the
large rifle ranges at Clemson University to finish
perfecting their marksmanship skills, no trucks
were on hand to transport them. They marched
the 48 miles from Toccoa to Clemson. Anyone
who fell out during the long march was removed
from the unit.
During this arduous training, a strong bond
was formed between five friends in I Company,
Shames reports. Joe Madona, Joe Beyerle, James
Recruiting posters like this one encouraged
men between the ages of 18 and 32 to join the
Army paratroopers.
Japhet, Ed Shames, and George Retan became
fast friends, with George as kind of their leader.
Retan seemed to know the ropes and helped
them all through the training regimen, Shames
recalls, displaying a level of leadership and
experience that Shames now credits to Retan’s
background as a FUMA cadet. “He must have
learned that here,”
Shames says. “I just
tried to follow his
lead.”
Retan’s leadership
abilities were noticed
by his commanding
officers, and Retan
was soon promoted
to Sergeant and
placed in charge of a
squad.
In December of
1942, the regiment
was to travel to Fort
Benning for parachute
jump school.
First Battalion traveled
by train from
Toccoa to Benning.
Second Battalion
marched 102 miles
to Atlanta in three days and then took a train to
Benning. Third Battalion, Retan’s battalion, took
the train to Atlanta, and then marched 136 miles
in four days to arrive at Fort Benning, smashing
a record for long distance marching previously
set by the Imperial Japanese Army. The 506th
PIR was attracting attention as an elite airborne
unit like none before.
More specialized training continued for the regiment
and by February of 1943, Ed Shames had
also been promoted to Staff Sergeant and moved
to Headquarters Staff, but he still remained close
with his buddies in I Company.
On September 5, 1943, the regiment boarded
the troop ship Samaria and sailed for England.
The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was
soon to become one of the most renowned units
of the 101st Airborne Division. George Retan
and his buddies were going to war.
Retan was promoted
to Sergeant within
months of his enlistment
in the 506th
Parachute Infantry
Regiment.
50 Call to Quarters www.forkunion.com 51

D-Day: The Normandy Invasion
As the landing craft hit the beaches at Omaha
Beach and Utah Beach at dawn on June 6, 1944,
George Retan and his comrades had already
been in combat for several hours.
The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was one
of a number of airborne units that jumped into
German-held territory in the hours past midnight.
The Third Battalion of the 506th was to
secure two bridges across the Douve River east
of the town of Carentan, France. The Germans
had built these bridges in recent months so they
could quickly move reinforcements to the beach
to meet the expected invasion. It was critical
that these bridges be seized and controlled if the
beach landings were to succeed.
In the darkness, amid a hail of anti-aircraft fire,
the transport planes bucked and swerved, trying
to find their drop zones. Paratroopers jumped
into uncertainty on that black night, very few
landing anywhere close to their targets, most
landing miles away from their objective.
Retan’s buddy, James Japhet, never made it into
the fight. His plane was hit and the right engine
and wing caught on fire. The paratroopers were
unable to jump and the plane crashed, killing all
aboard.
Joe Beyerle landed on a church in Saint-Cômedu-Mont
and slid down the roof to the ground
below. Alone, Beyerle tried to make his way
toward his objective but was captured by the
Germans and spent months in POW camps
before escaping and joining up with Soviet
Army forces with whom he fought through the
remainder of the war.
Joe Madona’s plane dropped him far from his
intended drop zone and into the area of operations
for the 82nd Airborne. He landed in a field
flooded by the Germans to hinder paratroopers
and had to act quickly to save himself and
a nearby comrade from drowning on landing.
Madona would survive Normandy but was killed
in action at Bastogne in January of 1945.
Ed Shames landed on the grounds of the
Carnation Milk factory near Carentan, all alone.
He quickly set about finding other paratroopers
and leading the way, many miles, to the bridges
that were their objective.
Like his buddies, George Retan was dropped
far away from his intended target, and within
the first five minutes was wounded in the leg by
shrapnel. He met up with Colonel Sink’s headquarters
outfit and continued fighting for the
next three days despite his wounds, until units
from Utah Beach broke through and joined with
them in the days following D-Day.
Retan was awarded the Bronze Star and the
Purple Heart, though he evidently never spoke
of the deeds that earned his medal for valor
with his good friend Ed Shames. Shames recalls
that Retan didn’t talk much about his injury or
D-Day experiences, just wearing a patch on his
leg. But then, most of the paratroopers landing
behind enemy lines, including Shames, had
wounds to show for their first experience in
combat.
In the weeks following the Normandy Invasion,
Retan’s wounds were treated but not all the
shrapnel could be removed. He was offered the
oppportunity to return to the United States for
further treatment, but he elected to remain with
his unit.
In the confusion and fog of war, Retan and
Shames had each, separately, distinguished
themselves in combat and demonstrated the
special kind of leadership needed to command
fighting men. They were both selected to receive
battlefield commissions following Normandy
and were promoted from Staff Sergeant to 2nd
Lieutenant rank, two of only three men in the
regiment to receive this recognition.
Ed Shames was transferred to E Company in
the 2nd Battalion of the 506th and placed in
command of the company’s “patrol platoon.”
George Retan was moved to A Company in
the 1st Battalion of the 506th as the Assistant
Platoon Leader of the 2nd Platoon.
A Quiet and Humble Leader
Bill Chivvis was a young soldier assigned to I
Company as a replacement in the days following
Normandy. As the Normandy veterans began
returning to Ramsbury, England, Bill Chivvis
and his fellow replacements got to see Retan in
action.
“After a time we became aware of Retan visiting
the Company ‘I’ area to greet his returning
friends. On each visit he would stop and talk
to the ‘know nothing’ replacements and try to
answer our stupid questions. There is no greater
gulf than that which exists between combatants
and non-combatants but this did not affect
Retan.”
Retan’s behavior made an impact on this fresh
young recruit. “From these brief visits, I learned
a lesson which would follow me through the
Holland and Belgium campaigns: I always took
the time to talk to incoming replacements.”
These few encounters with George Retan made
a lifelong impression on Chivvis, who spoke of
Retan in a 1995 letter to researcher and author
Peter Hendrikx. “I will describe Retan as a quiet,
humble young man, but very intelligent, very
alert, and very focused. He was a natural leader
who inspired confidence without even trying. He
was a man of the highest character.”
Operation Market Garden
In just a few short weeks, the 506th was headed
back into combat, part of the largest airborne
invastion ever undertaken to that time. The plan
was for American and British forces to capture
a number of bridges in Holland, giving the
Allies an access route into Germany around the
Siegfried Line defenses.
The 506th jumped in clear skies on the afternoon
of September 17, 1944 into a large field
near the town of Son. The daylight jump, made
possible by Allied air superiority, was a big improvement
on the confusion seen at Normandy.
The regiment landed almost in formation and
met little resistance as they left the drop zone.
Company A was to capture the main bridge
across the Wilhelmina Canal at Son. Almost
half of 1st Platoon had been dropped some
distance from the rest of the company, so 2nd
Platoon was placed in the lead. Platoon Leader
1st Lieutenant Galarneau had broken his ankle
on the jump, so it was up to 2nd Lieutenant
George Retan to lead the regiment through the
Son Forest toward their target.
About 400 yards into their advance, the company
engaged a number of German riflemen,
suppressing their fire and continuing to push
toward the bridge.
When the company reached a point in the
woods about 200 yards from the bridge, all of a
sudden one of the three 88mm artillery pieces
guarding the bridge opened fire into the trees.
Sgt. Joe Powers of 2nd Platoon was hit by shrapnel
and wounded almost immediately. Soon the
other two large 88mm guns had lowered their
barrels and begun firing into the woods. The
88mm gun is designed to shoot planes from the
sky, but the Germans had found it to be a terrible
and terrifying anti-infantry gun as well. The
88s were soon joined by the thump of 81mm
mortars.
“Men were being killed,” recalls Donald R.
Burgett, a soldier in A Company. “We had to do
something.”
Company A faced only one choice. They had
to attack headlong into the massed fire of three
fearsome cannons.
The soldiers raced through the woods and then
across the grass straight into the muzzle blasts
of the massive artillery pieces. After overwhelming
the Germans at the guns and silencing the
Retan and A Company
of the 506th PIR led
the attack on the
bridge at Son, into the
face of three 88mm
artillery guns.
52 Call to Quarters www.forkunion.com 53

In this remarkable photo taken near the Son bridge, an American trooper stands at one of the 88mm gun
emplacements captured by the Americans, one of the three guns that killed Retan and killed or wounded
so many of his men on that afternoon of September 17, 1944.
artillery, the paratroopers then stormed the
remaining yards toward the bridge to seize their
objective, but the Germans set off pre-placed
explosives just before the Americans set foot on
the structure, blowing it up in their faces.
As the smoke cleared and A Company regrouped,
the costs of the short fierce battle were
plain to see.
“Our company lost nearly 30 percent of our
officers and men in the Son Forest. Lieutenant
Retan was among the first of our men to be
killed in the woods,” recalls Don Burgett.
“Within hours of our landing in Holland, A
Company had been battered in battle and bathed
in blood.”
‘Til the Boys Come Home
Don Burgett would continue fighting through
Europe with A Company of the 506th and return
home from the war to write several gripping
books about his experiences, each widely hailed
for their first-person vividness.
Ed Shames (who was just a quarter-mile or so
away at Son and learned quickly of his close
friend’s death) would continue to lead his
platoon of Easy Company soldiers on through
Belgium, Bastogne, Berlin, and into the pages of
history as Stephen Ambrose’s famed “Band of
Brothers.” Shames earned the distinction of returning
more soldiers home, safe and alive, than
any other platoon leader in the 101st Airborne
Division. This despite the fact that his platoon
was often called on to undertake dangerous
patrols and assignments.
For George Owen Retan, however, his war
ended on September 17, 1944 in the Son Forest
of Holland. He lies in Plot A, Row 4, Grave
8 of the Netherlands American Cemetery at
Margraten. His resting place is attended to
regularly by citizens of that country who have
adopted the graves of the American fallen. His
bright white headstone is cleaned regularly and
flowers placed by these grateful citizens who
insure that the sacrifice for freedom he made on
their soil will not be soon forgotten.
54 Call to Quarters www.forkunion.com 55

FUMA Remembers
George Retan was not forgotten on the campus
of Fork Union Military Academy. As a four-year
cadet and a high-performing student, Retan
had made quite an impression on the staff and
faculty as well. It is clear that the affection was
mutual, as George Retan had expressly requested,
before heading overseas, that if anything
happened to him, his savings should be donated
to Fork Union Military Academy.
Dr. George M. Retan was devastated by his
son’s death. He closed his private practice and
spent much of his time building a log lodge on
a remote lake in Canada, a kind of refuge for
him. But Dr. Retan and his wife honored their
son’s wishes, and his savings were donated to the
Academy, where they helped fund the construction
of the school’s new library.
On October 11, 1949, Dr. and Mrs. George
M. Retan came to the campus of Fork Union
Military Academy for the dedication of the
Retan Library.
The Retan Rifles
In the fall of 1960, another young freshman
entered the Academy, the son of Lucille Retan
Ramseyer, George Retan’s beloved sister.
“From the moment I was born, I was destined
to be a cadet at Fork Union Military Academy,”
jokes George Owen Ramseyer.
The arrival of George Retan’s nephew and
namesake on campus apparently awakened fond
memories among the faculty and staff who recalled
his uncle’s arrival more than twenty years
earlier. Early in 1961 it was
decided that the Academy’s
crack drill team, then called
the Hatcher Rifles, would be
renamed to honor George
Owen Retan. In a special
ceremony, a Retan Rifles banner
was presented to young
George Owen Ramseyer.
The Retan Rifles carry that
name to this day, and each
year, a number of outstanding
young cadets carry his name on their sleeves,
a living memorial to honor his service and
sacrifice.
Recalling a Fallen Friend
Standing beside the brass plaque on the wall
dedicating the building to the memory of his
friend, Ed Shames felt the memories come
flooding back, these nearly 67 years later.
“It’s incredible,” he said, of learning that his
young comrade was one of FUMA’s most honored
alumni. “It’s just indescribable.”
Now a Colonel, though retired from his service
to the nation, Shames had volunteered to come
to FUMA to talk to cadets about his fallen
friend.
Standing in front of the entire upper school
Corps of Cadets, Shames wore a bright yellow
jacket covered in patches honoring the
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the 101st
Airborne Division of which they were a part,
and Easy Company, his own band of brothers.
The jacket was a gift from the HBO producers
of the mini-series about his famed unit. “They
made $190 million telling our story, “ quipped
Shames. “All I got was this jacket.”
Shames shared stories of the training that he and
George Retan had endured together at Currahee
Mountain. He answered questions about
Bastogne, the daring rescue of British paratroopers
across the Rhine River, and many other
exploits with Easy Company. Current members
of the Retan Rifles crowded around after his
talk, and Shames autographed copies of the book
“Tonight We Die As Men” for which he had
authored the foreward. Shames had brought the
books, which tell the story of the Third Battalion
of the 506th, as a special gift to the Retan cadets
and the school’s library.
Although he only lived a short twenty-one years,
the lessons to draw from Retan’s life seem clear.
Study hard, volunteer where you are needed, do
your best, accept responsibility, lead from the
front, be kind and gracious to all.
When asked how the young men of FUMA
could best honor the memory of George Owen
Retan, Shames offered the following simple advice:
“Work hard. Try to be great at something.
If you can’t be great, be good. If you can’t be a
good leader, be a good follower. But be good.
George was no angel, but he was good hearted.
George Retan was a good man.”
Donald Burgett returned to Holland a few years
ago to revisit the ground where he and his
comrades in A Company had battled in 1944. He
took time to visit Margraten Cemetery and take
this photo beside the grave of George O. Retan,
one of the lieutenants in his company.
Recommended Reading
Tonight We Die As Men:
The Untold Story of the Third
Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry
Regiment from Toccoa to D-Day
By Ian Gardner and Roger Day
Foreward by Ed Shames
Currahee!
The Road to Arnhem
By Donald R. Burgett
Colonel Ed Shames visited the
campus recently to speak with cadets
about Retan and World War II. After
his talk he signed books as gifts for
current Retan Rifle members.
The article on the following
pages (“Shuford and the
Chief ”) is a chapter reprinted
by permission of Flying Point
Press from this book:
Invasion: The Story of D-Day
By Bruce Bliven, Jr.
All these books are available
at Amazon.com and Barnes
& Noble.
56 Call to Quarters www.forkunion.com 57